![APPROVED: An artist's impression of the EJE Architecture-designed Darby Plaza office building in Hunter Street. The building sits partly on the old rail corridor. APPROVED: An artist's impression of the EJE Architecture-designed Darby Plaza office building in Hunter Street. The building sits partly on the old rail corridor.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/TFWurqJd3WWgt5tunziPf4/55695efa-abc6-49d4-bb5e-fa7739501e3e.jpg/r0_0_4000_2098_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Newcastle council approved plans for an eight-storey office block in Hunter Street and a 16-room boarding house in Hamilton on Tuesday night.
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Hunter developer GWH received the green light for its Darby Plaza redevelopment, which includes 138 parking spaces.
The building will sit on a site which encompasses part of the former heavy rail corridor near the junction of Hunter and Darby streets.
GWH had intended to include apartments in the building after winning a state government tender to buy the land last year but ditched them in favour of 8000 square metres of office space.
The plan includes a public square, part of which will be dedicated to the council.
![The Hamilton unit project. The Hamilton unit project.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/TFWurqJd3WWgt5tunziPf4/6a1b169a-adab-40c3-8ad9-17b4e6cb7cfa.png/r0_16_698_424_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The council approved a boarding house at 147 Beaumont Street, Hamilton, despite receiving 33 objections from neighbours concerned about the scale of the project, parking and loss of privacy.
The council also approved a Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation plan to subdivide five hectares of land at Honeysuckle to allow for road widening and the sale of a 5647 square metre waterfront block for units.